Gun Talk

Daisy Exonerated
Assault-rifle manufacturers are not the only companies that end up in the crosshairs of anti-gunners. Air-rifle maker Daisy, which has likely produced more "first guns" than any other company, was the target of a political hit job by Clinton appointee Ann Brown, the former commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Under Brown, the commission claimed that Daisy's air guns were defective. After a two-year struggle, Daisy has been exonerated. Current CPSC commissioner Mary Sheila Gall was damning in her indictment of the motives for the original investigation. She said that in her 30 years of public service she had "never seen a more outrageous miscarriage of justice and abuse of the process of public policy."

Prairie Town in Arms
The tiny town of Geuda Springs, Kan. (population 210), has passed an ordinance that requires most of its households to own guns and ammunition. By a 3-2 vote, the city council passed the legislation, which would fine noncompliant residents $10. The town's mayor vetoed the measure, but the council indicated that it will consider it again this February. The council said the town's lack of a police force makes the law necessary.

Wisconsin Bill Vetoed

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (Dem.) vetoed a bill that would allow concealed carry of firearms in his state. The bill had passed Wisconsin's Senate and Assembly by comfortable margins (24-8 and 64-35, respectively), but in order for it now to become law, legislators would need to muster a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and Senate to override Doyle's action.